Slashdot Mirror
Stephen Hawking Going To Canada
thepacketmaster writes "A previous Slashdot article I posted mentioned the possibility of Stephen Hawking coming to Canada. The Toronto Star now reports that he has accepted the position. Hawking will hold the title of distinguished research chair at the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics."
Never heard of it.
Good, he's probably due for an upgrade.
At least if he ever gives lectures and they start to fall asleep, he can shoot lasers out of his eyeballs.
I wish him all the best, and hope he can still make more great contributions to theoretical physics. He is an example for us all.
I seem to recall that he did a lot of research into black holes. Maybe he's done studying now and is leaving the country so he can get outside the event horizon to publish his findings.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
It's kind of ironic in that Canada has historically had a problem with what we call the "brain drain", where students graduate and leave for the US or overseas for higher paying jobs. Nice to see us on the other end of that for once!
I just hope its not to kill him. But that's the word on the street.
The word on what street? Crazy Street?
I'm so excited I just made water in my pantaloons!
He's probably moving there to study the event horizon surrounding a certain black hole, otherwise known as the US financial market.
We poured over $700 billion into it, and I doubt even he will discover Hawking radiation leaking out. Maybe a few nickels, but that's it.
I think I see a flaw in your logic... See, crossing the US/Canada border *is* the event horizon. At that point hawking will split into a finite number of hawkings will cross the event horizon, while an equal number of anti-hawkings will stay inside. I'm guessing they'll head to Ohio as soon as they figure out their better halves are sitting down for tea.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
We don't need him in the U.S.A. The world ends in four years and a month anyway.
distinguished research chair at the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
I don't know, a research chair sounds a bit dangerous, however distinguished it may be. I think he better stick with his current chair until this new one is at least in beta testing...
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Our plan is to give him free health care and poutine, and see which one wins.
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
$speak_text = $speak_text.' eh?';
According to the article - it's a 'visiting Chair', and he will make regular visits to Waterloo, ON.
In other words, he's getting a big paycheque for attaching his name to the institute and will make the minimal number of personal appearances to make it look legit.
He's actually starting to have trouble communicating, as the movements he used for it back then (blinking I think?) are starting to become harder. He's still productive, but not as much as he used to, and probably not for very long.
"...a finite number of hawkings will cross the event horizon, while an equal number of anti-hawkings will stay inside."
And they'll be easily distinguishable as the anti-Hawkings are all evil and have goatees.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Never underestimate the disabled. While his body fails, his brain is in tip top shape. He is brave for continuing on with a disease that tears his body apart.
He still has a good 10 to 20 years.
I myself am disabled, and people underestimate me as well. I have physical and mental illnesses that are tearing apart my body and mind, but I continue on myself. I understand a bit of what Hawking is going through. But not all of it. I am not as advanced in my disease as Hawking is in his. I use computers to communicate with the world, because I lack proper social skills and communication skills and cannot speak them verbally, but I am better using a computer to communicate for me.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Is something that happened 60+ years ago an ominous sign today?
Not especially, unless you're peddling paranoia.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
"In conclusion, I understand nothing about the anomaly, even after cashing the huge check I got for writing a book about it."
- Stephen Hawking, Futurama
"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special."
- Stephen Hawking
More funny and insightful quotes here:
http://www.quoteaddict.com/
The question isn't a slam on the disabled - it's my understanding (not refreshed with a recent Googling or a Wikipedia visit) that it's extremely unusual to live far into your thirties when you have motor neuron disease.
Of course, those lifespan estimates have probably been climbing due to improved medicine since his original diagnosis regardless of anything unique to Stephen Hawking's particular progression.
Hawking has a wicked sense of humor and will pull practical jokes. Many years ago I watched him skewer Caltech professor Kip Thorne just as he (KT) was about to begin a seminar. It was one of those "you had to be there to appreciate it" moments, but it was hilarious - the whole audience was laughing. Not bad for someone who, even then, could do little more than activate his motorized wheelchair. A sense of timing does wonders.
Unfitter, unhappier, less productive?
myselfmusic
A vacancy has just opened up. Apply by December 15.
Q: What's a synonym for Perimeter?
A: Rim, or more appropriately, RIM (Research In Motion)
Not sure if it's already mentioned in the comments, but the Perimeter Institute was founded, and is primarily funded, by Mike Lazaridus, Co-CEO of RIM and Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.
I wonder if Dr. Hawking will be getting a free Blackberry? (I guess he'll have to design an interface as his first task at Perimeter.)
Well, at least now the phrase "Slower than Steven Hawking in a snowstorm" might actually have some basis in fact.
Do you mean the University post, or the one with wheels and an electric motor?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
There is a HUGE difference between a hunting rifle and an automatic pistol. Try to conceal one.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
As a UW Student in their Faculty of Mathematics, I would like to just say that I think it's wondering that UW is attracting such well known people. We have many ties with a variety of people and establishments around the world! This is just an example of how to bring the top people in the field together to help each other out and reap some very large benefits. I do not think this is a bad thing at all. Hawking is the first of 40 people that PI wishes to invite over to the Waterloo area. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081127.whawking1127/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview
When he was diagnosed in 1963, he was given 2 to 3 years to live.
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI